Coming to America Almost Didn’t Happen: Star Reveals the Close Call That Nearly Ended Eddie Murphy’s Classic Before It Began
Before it became a cult classic, Coming to America almost died in the boardroom—Arsenio Hall says Paramount initially passed on Eddie Murphy’s comedy before a late reversal set the royal romp in motion.
It's hard to imagine comedy history without Coming to America. The movie is everywhere: cult classic, cable reruns, your friend's endless barbershop impression. But apparently, this whole thing almost didn’t happen—and the story behind it is actually funnier (and more convoluted) than you might expect.
Paramount Actually Passed on It. Yes, Really.
This nugget comes straight from Arsenio Hall—Semmi himself—who was on Conan O'Brien’s podcast recently. According to Hall, when he and Eddie Murphy first took the idea for Coming to America to Paramount, the studio basically shrugged and said, 'No thanks.'
To quote Hall directly:
'They turned Coming to America down... We went and pitched it at Paramount and they said, "No, thank you." And we were like, "Give us some notes. What should we do?" And they were like, "We’re not sure, but you know, it’s a fish out of water. We’ve seen this a billion times."'
I’m not sure what universe Paramount was living in at that time, but the idea of telling Eddie Murphy in the eighties, 'We’ve all seen this before,' feels like something you’d only do if you hated money. Wild.
All Those Eddie Murphy Characters? Not in the First Draft
If you love the movie’s endless parade of Eddie Murphy in heavy makeup (and who doesn’t?), here’s a weird inside detail: Those classic characters weren’t even in the original concept. The barbershop crew, the preacher, and even the old Jewish guy—none of that was in it at the start.
This only changed after Paramount (credit where it’s due) came back with two big notes:
- Everybody wanted to see Eddie play multiple characters again (everyone still missed his run on SNL at that point)
- What if the people they meet in America are also played by Eddie?
At that stage, Hall was just relieved to be included, joking that while Eddie was suggesting he do preacher characters, he was just trying to keep up. His reaction? Basically: 'I got to do characters with Eddie Murphy. That's like saying, you know, check Jordan. Lock that motherf**ker down. So I was a nervous wreck going into Coming to America.'
The Rest Is Box Office (And Comedy) History
Of course, we know what happened next. Eddie and Arsenio dove headfirst into all those now-iconic characters, and Paramount—despite their initial hesitation—got the last laugh anyway. The movie ended up pulling in anywhere from $288 million to $350 million at the worldwide box office, depending on who you ask. And now it's Coming to America: a classic, a reference point, and a reminder that sometimes studios really, really don’t know what they've got until someone makes them a believer.